[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 578 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 578

 Supporting the role of the United States in ensuring children in the 
  world's poorest countries have access to vaccines and immunization 
                  through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 13, 2014

   Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Boozman) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Supporting the role of the United States in ensuring children in the 
  world's poorest countries have access to vaccines and immunization 
                  through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Whereas, prior to 2000, the distribution of, and the resources for, vaccines for 
        children in the developing world were declining, immunization rates were 
        stagnant or decreasing, and nearly 30,000,000 children born in the 
        developing world each year were not fully immunized;
Whereas, prior to 2000, it was common for new life-saving vaccines to take up to 
        15 years to be introduced in the world's poorest countries;
Whereas access to routine immunization and vaccines protect children from deadly 
        but preventable disease and contribute to national economic growth and 
        poverty reduction by ensuring people live longer, healthier, and more 
        productive lives;
Whereas, in 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States, the 
        United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Health 
        Organization, the World Bank, bilateral partners, developing countries, 
        the private sector, including the vaccine industry, civil society, and 
        other partners joined forces to create a public-private partnership 
        called the Global Fund for Children's Vaccines (now Gavi, the Vaccine 
        Alliance) in order to expand access to new and underused vaccines and 
        support the introduction and scale-up of these vaccines into routine 
        immunization systems in the world's poorest countries;
Whereas partnership and sustainability are at the core of the Gavi model by 
        requiring eligible countries to contribute financing to some portion of 
        their vaccine costs and directly invest in immunizing their children;
Whereas, by 2012, more than 65 developing countries working with Gavi were co-
        financing new and underused vaccines and more than 20 countries are 
        projected to graduate between 2016 and 2020, moving toward fully funding 
        their national immunization programs;
Whereas Gavi has transformed the market for vaccines by pooling demand from 
        developing countries matched with secure, predictable financing to make 
        vaccines more affordable and their supply more reliable, and encouraging 
        research and development of new vaccines;
Whereas, as a result, Gavi has played a critical role in increasing the number 
        of global vaccine manufacturers selling to the world's poorest countries 
        from 5 in 2001 to 13 in 2014;
Whereas the price for the pneumococcal vaccine, which prevents pneumonia, is now 
        more than 90 percent lower for Gavi-eligible countries than elsewhere, 
        and the price of rotavirus vaccines, which prevents diarrhea, is 67 
        percent lower in Gavi-eligible countries;
Whereas, with innovative financing mechanisms like the Advance Market Commitment 
        and International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), Gavi 
        ensures that appropriate and affordable vaccines are available 
        throughout the developing world;
Whereas Gavi supports the financing and delivery of 11 vaccines, including those 
        against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus, the leading vaccine-
        preventable causes of pneumonia and diarrhea, which kill more children 
        under the age of five than any other disease;
Whereas Gavi collaborates closely with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative 
        on the final push to end polio, strengthening and bringing the 
        inactivated polio vaccine into routine immunization programs;
Whereas strong immunization systems are critical to ensuring continuous coverage 
        and sustainability of new and routine immunization programs in 
        implementing countries;
Whereas Gavi supports the strengthening of health systems and local civil 
        society organizations to ensure effective immunization and health 
        services;
Whereas, since 2000, with support from the United States, the Bill & Melinda 
        Gates Foundation, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, 
        implementing countries, donor governments, the private sector, and other 
        donors and partners, Gavi has supported country-led vaccine roll outs in 
        77 countries to support the immunization of an additional 440,000,000 
        children and will avert an estimated 6,000,000 deaths in the world's 
        poorest countries;
Whereas, in 2013, Gavi was ranked the second most transparent aid program in the 
        Aid Transparency Index, behind only the Millennium Challenge 
        Corporation;
Whereas, even with significant contributions by Gavi, only a small percentage of 
        young children worldwide receive all 11 life-saving vaccines universally 
        recommended by the World Health Organization;
Whereas vaccines are widely regarded as one of the ``best buys'' in global 
        health and recognized as one of the most efficient, cost-effective, and 
        successful health initiatives in history;
Whereas, in 2012, leading experts on health economics ranked childhood 
        immunization as one of the three most cost-effective solutions to 
        advance global health;
Whereas, as one of the initial six donors, the United States has been an 
        important supporter of Gavi and through the generosity of the people of 
        the United States has contributed almost $1,200,000,000 for the 
        acquisition of life saving vaccines;
Whereas, at Gavi's first pledging conference in June 2011, the United States 
        increased its support and pledged $450,000,000 for fiscal years 2012 
        through 2014 to increase access to new and underused vaccines, including 
        pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines;
Whereas, in addition to this three-year pledge, the United States contributed an 
        additional $90,000,000 to Gavi in fiscal year 2011;
Whereas United States investment in Gavi complements and enhances the 
        effectiveness of other bilateral and multilateral United States 
        investments in global health, particularly in child survival;
Whereas Gavi is committed to working with partners, including United States 
        bilateral programs run by the United States Agency for International 
        Development (USAID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
        (CDC), to ensure children in developing nations have access to vaccines 
        and immunizations;
Whereas, in June 2012, the United States Government, together with the 
        Governments of Ethiopia and India as well as UNICEF, mobilized the world 
        around the goal of ending preventable child deaths by 2035;
Whereas access to immunizations is a key component of reaching that goal;
Whereas, in May 2014, at the World Economic Forum meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, 
        African leaders pledged to increase investment in their countries' 
        immunization programs by endorsing the Immunise Africa 2020 leaders' 
        declaration;
Whereas, on May 20, 2014, Gavi called on donors to support an ambitious plan to 
        immunize an additional 300,000,000 children against potentially fatal 
        diseases and save an additional 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 lives between 
        2016 and 2020;
Whereas Gavi needs donors to invest an additional $7,500,000,000 to support 
        immunization programs in developing countries from 2016 to 2020;
Whereas, at the same time, implementing countries are expected to co-finance an 
        additional $1,200,000,000, an increase from almost $500,000,000 in 2011 
        through 2015; and
Whereas, with this support from donors and the global vaccine community, Gavi 
        can reach its 1,000,000,000th child with critical vaccines by the early 
        2020s, nearly double the number of lives saved since its founding, and 
        unlock between $80,000,000,000 and $100,000,000,000 in economic benefits 
        through health care savings and productivity gains: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commends Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Bill & Melinda 
        Gates Foundation, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund 
        (UNICEF), the World Health Organization, the World Bank, civil 
        society, the private sector, faith-based organizations, the 
        international community, and implementing countries on the 
        progress that has been made on reducing child mortality through 
        the increased availability and distribution of vaccines;
            (2) affirms the continued support of the people and 
        Government of the United States for the purchase of vaccines 
        for the world's poorest countries through Gavi as a cost-
        effective, efficient means to reduce child mortality and as a 
        critical component of meeting the United States goal to end 
        preventable maternal and child deaths;
            (3) supports the ideals and goals of Gavi to--
                    (A) accelerate equitable uptake and coverage of 
                vaccines;
                    (B) improve the effectiveness and efficiency of 
                immunization delivery;
                    (C) improve sustainability of national immunization 
                programs; and
                    (D) shape markets for vaccines and other 
                immunization products;
            (4) upholds that the United States is a critical donor in 
        its work with other donors to perform diplomatic outreach in 
        seeking additional funding for Gavi in order to leverage its 
        commitment;
            (5) recognizes that the United States, in addition to being 
        an important donor, is a critical technical partner to Gavi, 
        and the impact of United States investments to Gavi is 
        leveraged by providing direct technical assistance to 
        implementing countries and global bodies;
            (6) encourages the continued use of United States Agency 
        for International Development (USAID) maternal and child health 
        and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) global 
        immunization resources to strengthen local public health 
        capacity to introduce and sustain new and underutilized 
        vaccines, that are supported by Gavi, through routine 
        immunization systems; and
            (7) encourages continued commitment and investment by the 
        United States Government and international donors, through 
        Gavi, to the global effort to ensure that children in 
        developing nations have access to vaccines and immunizations.
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